This week’s consideration of an implementation plan for a medicines patent pool by the board of oversight body UNITAID stirred a stream of stakeholder letters from around the world. UNITAID, a drug purchasing facility, is in the process of implementing a patent pool for HIV/AIDS medicines, aimed at bringing lower priced needed medicines to developing countries.

National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urging that he amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to more directly and effectively lower the cost of pharmaceuticals. The letter included criticism of the biogeneric provisions that would allow brand name firms to use consecutive 12 year periods of data exclusivity to block generic entry.

Today the United States Supreme Court struck down a Vermont law that limited the sale of physician-identifiable prescription data for marketing purposes. In a 6-3 decision, the Court held that the law was a violation of the First Amendment.
Prof. Sean Fiil-Flynn, Associate Director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at the Washington College of Law served as counsel for amici AARP and National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices. Prof. Fiil-Flynn responds:

Tuesday, April 26, 2011, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Sorrell v. IMS Health, Inc, et al. The case focuses of the ability of states to protect the confidentiality of health care date, specifically the ability of states to restrict the use of physician-identifiable data for the purpose of pharmaceutical marketing. American University, Washington College of Law’s Program on Information Justice & Intellectual Property’s Sean Flynn and Meredith Jacob had previously filed an amicus curiae brief in this case. The brief, filed on behalf of AARP and the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices, argued that the Supreme Court should not limit this valuable tool for protecting medical privacy and controlling prescription drug prices. This case raises central questions about the interplay of privacy protections and the First Amendment, and will set the stage for upcoming decisions about consumer privacy, consent, and the sale of data.

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Access to Medicine Legal Education Initiative

September 21-22, Kiev Ukraine. Participants were drawn from nations undertaking or
seriously considering Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with
western nations, or acceding to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

September 14-18, Kiev, Ukriaine. PIJIP, OSI and the Kyiv-Mohyla Academyhosted a training to show advocates
from Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States how
intellectual property
flexibilities permitted by international law can be used to promote
access to affordable generic medicines.

May 12-14, Pretoria, South Africa. A three-day workshop for
Parliamentarians from SADC nations was organized by PIJIP, the
University of Pretoria, UNDP and OSI. Participants from thirteen countries attended, and issued a joint
statement on IP, trade and health.

The 44th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and
Peoples' Rights in Abuja, Nigeria has adopted the Resolution on the
Right to Health and Access to Needed Medicines in Africa. The resolution was based on the NGO statement produced by clinical students after the previous Access to Medicine Short Course in Pretoria.

Pretoria and WCL students worked with groups
fighting HIV/AIDS on the continent to prepare a resolution calling on
the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights to recognize human rights to access needed medicines. It
specifically calls on the Commission to take “full advantage
of all flexibilities in the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property that promote access to affordable medicines.”

May, 2008. The
short course was planned and taught by seven professors and
practitioners from six countries. The 46 participants in the course included LLM students
from 21 countries, government officials, academics, parliamentarians
and activists.

PIJIP and Pretoria students have created the
Clinical Group on Access to Medicine in Africa. They have
compiled a large bibliography
materials, and have written a white paper, and have
worked with African civil society groups to draft a submission to the
Commission for its November meeting in Abuja, Nigeria.

The
Human Rights and Access to Medicine Legal Education Initiative has
compiled a large amount of resources covering the
intersecting areas of intellectual property, human rights obligations,
and access to medicines. This page is an ongoing compilation of these
materials, including treaties, laws, journal articles, and more.